A kitchen garden is a food garden grown close to the house — traditionally just outside the kitchen door — so that herbs, salads and vegetables are within easy reach while you cook. It is not a large allotment or a farm plot: it is a small, intensively planted garden designed for daily use, where you pick a handful of herbs or a salad while dinner is cooking. The best kitchen gardens are beautiful as well as useful, with neat beds, clear paths and a mix of vegetables, herbs and edible flowers. This guide covers where to put a kitchen garden, how to plan it, what to grow, and how to keep it producing through the seasons.
The single most important rule of a kitchen garden is location: it must be close to the house and easy to reach in all weather. A vegetable plot at the far end of the garden gets visited far less than one by the back door, and herbs you have to walk to in the rain do not get picked. Put the kitchen garden in the sunniest spot near the house, on level ground with good drainage and a water supply nearby. It needs at least six hours of sun a day for most vegetables, and more is better. A spot near the kitchen also means you see it every day, so you notice pests, dry soil and ripe crops early — and that daily attention is what makes a kitchen garden productive.
Planning beds and paths
Keep the design simple and practical. Raised beds are ideal for a kitchen garden: they warm up early, drain well, keep soil loose, and are comfortable to work at. Make beds no wider than about 1.2 metres so you can reach the middle from either side without stepping on the soil, and leave paths at least 45 cm wide — wider if you use a wheelbarrow. Use the raised bed soil calculator to work out how much soil you need, and the square foot garden planner to plan planting in small beds. Divide the garden into four or more beds so you can rotate crops: do not grow the same family — tomatoes, potatoes and peppers, for example — in the same bed year after year, because pests and diseases build up in the soil. Our crop rotation guide explains the rotation, and vegetable garden layout covers bed planning in more detail. Add a small compost bin nearby so kitchen scraps and garden waste go straight into it; our compost bins guide explains the options.
What to grow in a kitchen garden
Grow what you actually eat, and grow it in the quantities you use. Herbs are the heart of a kitchen garden because they are expensive to buy, easy to grow, and used in small amounts daily: basil, parsley, mint, chives, rosemary, thyme and oregano cover most cooking, and our herb garden design guide explains how to place them. For salads, grow lettuce, rocket, spring onions and radishes, which are fast and can be sown every few weeks. For cooking, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, beans and chili peppers are the most useful, and a few carrots and beetroot add variety. Add edible flowers such as nasturtiums, calendula and borage for salads and garnishes. Avoid growing large amounts of anything you rarely eat, and avoid crops that take up a lot of space for a small harvest — sweetcorn and pumpkins belong in a larger plot, not a kitchen garden. Check your local extension service for varieties that do well in your area.
Succession and year-round supply
A kitchen garden should produce a little every week, not a glut once a year. The technique is succession sowing: sow a small batch of fast crops such as lettuce, radish and beans every two to three weeks, so new plants are always coming along as old ones finish. Our succession planting guide explains the timing. Interplant fast crops between slow ones: sow radishes or lettuce between rows of tomatoes or cabbage, and harvest them before the larger plants need the space. Use the seed starting calculator to work out sowing dates, and start seeds under cover so you always have seedlings ready to fill gaps. In mild climates, grow through winter with hardy greens such as kale, chard and winter lettuce; in cold climates, use a cold frame or cloche to extend the season. Our cold frames guide explains how. Keep a simple garden journal — what you sowed, when, and how it did — so next year you sow the right amounts at the right times.
Soil, water and feeding
Kitchen garden soil works hard, so feed it well. Work a 5–8 cm layer of compost into beds before each planting, and mulch with straw or compost to hold moisture and suppress weeds; our composting basics guide explains how to make it. Test your soil before adding fertiliser, and our soil pH testing guide explains how. Water at the base in the morning, and use drip irrigation or soaker hoses to keep leaves dry and water use low — our watering systems guide compares the options. Because the kitchen garden is close to the house, a rain barrel by the downpipe is a convenient water source. Feed hungry crops such as tomatoes and zucchini with compost tea or a liquid feed during the growing season; our compost tea guide explains how. If you are unsure what your soil needs, check your local extension service for a soil test.
Keeping the kitchen garden healthy
Daily attention is the best pest control: check plants as you pick, and act early. Hand-pick caterpillars and slugs, wash aphids off with a jet of water, and use fine mesh over brassicas to keep out cabbage white butterflies. Grow flowers such as marigolds among vegetables to attract beneficial insects, and let some herbs flower for pollinators. Rotate crops every year, remove diseased plants promptly, and never compost diseased material. Wash all produce before eating, and keep the garden tidy — clear spent plants promptly so pests have nowhere to hide. For more detail, see our organic pest control guide and the pest identifier helper. If pest or disease problems are severe, check your local extension service for locally approved advice. Keep the garden safe too: store tools out of the way, wash hands after handling soil or compost, and see our garden safety guide.
Common mistakes
The most common mistake is growing too much of one thing at once, so you have a glut and then nothing — sow little and often instead. The second is putting the kitchen garden too far from the house, so it gets neglected. The third is beds too wide to reach the middle without stepping on the soil, which compacts it. The fourth is growing the same crop in the same bed year after year, which builds up pests and disease. The fifth is neglecting to water in dry spells, because a kitchen garden's small beds dry out fast. The sixth is planting mint in open ground, where it spreads and takes over — always grow mint in a pot. And the seventh is sowing everything at once in spring and then having nothing to sow in summer — keep sowing through the season.
Frequently asked questions
How big should a kitchen garden be?
For a household, four raised beds of about 1.2 m by 2.4 m, plus a herb bed near the door, is a good start. That is enough for salads, herbs and the most-used vegetables without being overwhelming. Start small and add beds once you know what you use — a small garden that is well tended beats a large one that is neglected.
What herbs should every kitchen garden have?
Basil, parsley, mint, chives, rosemary, thyme and oregano cover most cooking. Grow mint in a pot so it does not spread, keep rosemary and thyme in a sunny, well-drained spot, and keep basil warm and well watered. Our herb garden design guide explains placement.
How do I keep a kitchen garden producing all year?
Sow little and often, use succession planting, interplant fast crops between slow ones, and grow hardy greens through winter in mild climates or under a cold frame in cold ones. Keep seedlings ready to fill gaps as soon as a crop finishes, so beds are never empty for long.
Do I need to rotate crops in a small kitchen garden?
Yes. Even with only four beds, rotating crop families each year reduces soil-borne pests and diseases and balances nutrient use. Our crop rotation guide explains a simple four-bed rotation. If space is very tight, at least avoid growing the same family in the same spot two years running.
How do I water a kitchen garden efficiently?
Water at the base in the morning, use drip irrigation or soaker hoses, mulch to hold moisture, and check soil moisture before watering rather than watering on a fixed schedule. A rain barrel near the house is a convenient water source. Our watering systems guide compares the options.